At downtown Monterey shop, it’s only rock ’n’ roll

1of2Larry Chavez, owner of Rock and Roll Experience, at his store on Monterey’s main drag.Photo: Mason Trinca, Special to The Chronicle

2of2Larry Chavez, owner of Rock and Roll Experience, shows off a rare Jimi Hendrix photo at his store.Photo: Mason Trinca, Special to The Chronicle

Plenty of people say the Summer of Love changed their lives. But very few can prove it with as much time-machine show-and-tell as Larry Chavez.

He runs a small shop that defies its size with an overflow inventory distinguished by quantity, quality, history, selectivity and exclusivity. The 500-square-foot Monterey Rock & Roll Experience sits on downtown Monterey’s main drag, Alvarado Boulevard, marked by a tiny sign.

Inside, it’s a wonderland, stocked with a vivid stash of bestsellers like vintage Monterey Pop posters (“I can’t keep them in stock,” Chavez says) and obscure items like one-off pouty Led Zeppelin pics (by Jimi Hendrix photographer Ron Raffaelli) and Jim Morrison’s handwritten poetry (“Burlesque Beat,” from his freshman days at Florida State, signed). He’s even got an official copy of Morrison’s birth certificate (that some family member realized would draw attention in a place like this). The vinyl collection numbers well over 1,200, including a rich trove of Beatles albums and memorabilia he calls “a buyer’s delight.”

“I don’t have a big shop, but it’s jam-filled with things,” he says. “Things I think are cool.” Postcards from Bill Graham, 1960s DC and Marvel comic books, and a 1953 Coca-Cola machine stretch the inventory beyond music, though the 8-foot-tall wooden set list for 1967’s Monterey International Pop Festival — with all the groups and all the songs played — remains the mightiest totem.

“So many people come in and say, ‘This is where it all happened — in Monterey, right? Who were the groups? What’s the story?’ I just point to the monolith,” he says.

As luck would have it, the store opened in 2012 on the same weekend as Monterey Pop, precisely 45 years later. More uncanny timing came quickly: Not long thereafter, Chavez noticed that the dates he knew so well, Monterey Pop’s June 16-18, were open on the 2017 Monterey County Fair & Event Center calendar — and a half-century later somehow fell on a weekend. So he drafted a proposal for a three-day festival, earned the reservation and made a deposit.

His brother helped design posters for powerhouse promoters Another Planet (Outside Lands, Treasure Island), which led to a partnership via CEO Gregg Perloff; collaboration with Goldenvoice and Monterey Pop co-founder Lou Adler allowed for use of the name.

Chavez acknowledges a lot of serendipity. “Things worked out without scuffing our knees,” he says.

Adler and Perloff have become enthusiastic partners. The result is one of the most-anticipated West Coast festivals of the summer, Monterey Pop 50. Headliners include Booker T. and Eric Burdon, who both played the original. Other big names include Phil Lesh (another alum) & the Terrapin Family Band, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Dr. Dog, Jack Johnson, Father John Misty, Gary Clark Jr., Hiss Golden Messenger, Jackie Greene, G. Love and Norah Jones, whose father, Ravi Shankar, was such a big part of the 1967 edition.

“When we set out, we had one goal,” Perloff says. “Not to re-create the original festival, but to honor it. How do you put on a show in 2017 with some of the sweetness and innocence of 1967?”

“We didn’t want to do tribute bands or older bands,” Chavez adds. “We wanted to find cutting-edge artists who honor the music and tone of the past.”

The Monterey Fairgrounds, despite several stages, remain relatively small for major concerts — the main arena seats fewer than 10,000 — so the concert is filling up quickly. But those in search of connection to the Monterey Pop and the Summer of Love always have the Rock & Roll Experience to fall back on.